The Devil Went Down to Georgia

I landed on an idea that I felt would be a financially lucrative novel series. I’d been reading the fiction bestsellers at the time and I realized that they were, to a large degree, formulaic, trite, fast-moving, and written on about a fourth-grade reading level.

I thought I could certainly write that poorly. It would require less revision, fewer edits, and I could pump out the books much faster, probably producing several per year.

All it would require was me being less insanely neurotic about quality. I figured that mediocrity would actually boost my career and help me put away more money for my daughters’ college education one day.

So, I put together a book proposal for the new series and spun out a few sample chapters. My agent sent it out, and it made it to the pub boards of two of the New York publishers.

I admit that I was excited when I flew up to New York City to meet with editors to discuss the book, which we were hoping to put on auction—but in the end it didn’t sell.

Thankfully, oh thankfully, that series didn’t sell.

It would have sent me down a career path that I know, and (if I’m honest with myself), that I knew at the time, wouldn’t have been one I could be proud of.

Not long after that, I had an opportunity to ghostwrite for one of the biggest names in publishing. “You’ll make a lot of money,” my agent told me. “You’ll be a New York Times bestseller.” So, I had to figure out what to do. Write my own stories, even though they didn’t have Mr. Famousguy’s name on the cover, or go ahead and write stories for him, make a ton of money, buy myself some time, and then go write my own books after I’d cashed the check.

It wouldn’t have been immoral. I’m not judging ghostwriters. I have many friends who ghostwrite and I’ve done work for hire myself. In this case, the bigger question was whose stories I was going to spend my life telling. It would have been a lucrative job at a point in my career when I could really have used the money.

At that time, my daughters were young, and one day as we were driving home, I was talking in the front seat with my wife about the possibilities of the ghostwriting.

I guess I didn’t even think they were listening in, but kids have a tendency to do that—especially when we don’t think they are.

When there was finally a pause in our conversation, my youngest daughter asked me, “So what are you going to do, Daddy?” She was maybe five at the time.

I was about to tell her that I was planning to help this other man write his stories, but right before I answered, I felt a nudge deep in my heart to say something different.

“I’m just going to write the stories God has given me to write,” I told her, even before I realized what I was actually saying. “Even if I don’t make as much money, at least I’ll be telling the stories that I think need to be told.”

“I’m glad, Daddy,” my daughter said.

And that was that.

And so, I did not end up ghostwriting for Mr. Famousguy.

The issue never came up again.

And thank God I did not end up selling the dumbed-down series.

In the past twelve years, I’ve written a dozen novels, and, yes, some have been bestsellers. Many have not. Some created buzz, others hardly appeared as a blip on anyone’s screen. Some have won rather prestigious awards and acclaim, others not so much.

But the journey has taught me a few things.

As you foray into the world of fiction writing, you’ll be tempted to settle for less than your best. You’ll be tempted to follow the latest marketing and publishing trends. You’ll be tempted to write what you think will sell rather than the story you think you should tell. And of course, today with the ease of self-publishing, you’ll be tempted to publish a book before you’ve edited it a dozen times, before it’s ready for the world, before it’s been sweated over and revised until you can hardly stand it anymore. It’s good enough, you’ll tell yourself. I’ll just send it out there and see how it does.

My friend, do not give in to this temptation. Write books that no one else in the world could write, and write them so well that you will never live to see the day when you are ashamed to have your name on the cover.

Frankly, I don’t care if you self-publish or not. I don’t care who publishes your book, or where or how they do so. But I care when it’s published. And I have yet to read a self-published book that was ready to be published. Self-publishing poorly-written fiction doesn’t suddenly make it better, it just proliferates mediocrity. It’s just so easy to press enter and so hard to print out the book again, start from the beginning, and revise the hell out of it.

Do it anyway.

Don’t sell yourself short and don’t sell yourself out. Only you will know the degree of integrity you put into your work. Rage against mediocrity. Write worthy books, and tell the stories that God has given you to share with the world.

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Steven James is an award-winning, national bestselling author. His novels have won wide critical acclaim from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, the New York Journal of Books, and more. His latest craft book Troubleshooting Your Novel (Writers Digest Books, 2016) is helping thousands of writers improve their manuscripts themselves. For more information about his popular seminars, click to www.novelwritingintensive.com

Steven James is the critically acclaimed author of thirteen novels. He serves as a contributing editor to Writer’s Digest Magazine, hosts the biweekly podcast The Story Blender, and has a master’s degree in storytelling. Publishers Weekly calls him “[a] master storyteller at the peak of his game.”Steven’s groundbreaking book Story Trumps Structure: How to Write Unforgettable Fiction by Breaking the Rules won a Storytelling World award as one of the best resources for storytellers in 2015. When he’s not working on his next novel, Steven teaches Novel Writing Intensive retreats across the country with New York Times Bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Comments

Personal integrity: it’s needed these days more than ever, in whatever field we labor. Thank you, Steven James, for inspiring us to keep our backbones strong–and for using an engaging story to make the point.

Thank you for this. Since the beginning of this year I’ve been thinking of a shifting my priorities to: “Write worthy books, and tell the stories that God has given you to share with the world.” Your essay couldn’t have come at a better time for me.

That’s it, my friend. Do we live life just to get by? Are we called to just do okay? No. We are charged to do our best. For our God. For our country. For our planet. For our kids.

For the reading public who long for stories that enthrall, lift and inspire. That happens only when we tell the stories that only we can tell.

I don’t think any author believes they are imitating, rushing or doing less than their best. Yet we read the results and know that we are not always getting the best.

Rage against the mediocrity begins with honest self-assessment and a fierce demand of one’s own work. It must be original. It must be forged in fire. It must show our deepest understandings and stir us to live according to our highest ideals.

We expect that of our family, community and leaders. We seek it in fiction. Sometimes we get it, sometimes we don’t but there is one place we can always get it: in our own pages.

I admire your decisions and am proud to know you. Good books too, BTW. Great post today, Steven. Glad to see you here.

Thanks, Don, for stealing the same line I wanted as a pull quote. Sigh … (The perils of living on the west coast … and getting caught up in the news instead of WU …)

I have nothing meaningful to add except to say that nothing here surprises me, knowing Steven.

First, the thought of making his kids more financially secure is totally in keeping with his character.

Being gifted enough to be considered as a ghostwriter, ditto.

But the final step is the clincher: looking within for the right way to go, listening to his kids and his conscience, and understanding those kids need more than money to ensure a good life — they need a father with a moral compass and faith in himself. All of that resonates with the man I know and respect so much.

In trying to form a response, the word “refreshing” comes to mind. Your transparency about your past motives for writing, and calling out self publishing are something I haven’t seen in awhile. Both viewpoints can be debated but it’s so nice to read something stated so well and with such conviction. You’ve gotten me thinking about what ways I might be selling out, possibly without even being aware of it. Thanks!

Heartfelt comments, Steven. As a participant in your Novel Intensive Workshop, I saw first hand the integrity with which you both write and teach. The story of your journey as an author is inspiring – I can feel how important it is to you to provide for your family and so holding true to your principles was even more of a push-pull. You made the right decision.

Steven, glad you didn’t sell out. Like that you pleased your five year old, an honest critic, even at that young age.

As for your comment about self-published books, I agree there are many that have been put out too hastily, but I’ve also read some that compare favourably with those traditionally published.

I’m a self-published author who sweats over quality. My two novels took years to write and I hired both substantive and copy editors to make sure readers buying my books wouldn’t be wasting their money.

Steven, Exactly what I needed to hear today. Your message resonates with me mostly on the self-publishing front. I intend to self-publish my debut novel but I want it to be the best it can be and I will likely go over it 30 times in the next year and a half, with a team of editors and beta readers I’ve already got lined up, and settle at nothing other than sheer awesomeness in the book I put out. Not just for that book, but as a milestone of the standards I want to shoot for, and outshoot, with every novel after that. On a somewhat related note, I believe the right book has a way of finding us, when we need it. I’ve been reflecting on this as I finish the current book I’m reading (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, amazing book!). It seems Troubleshooting Your Novel is next. I can feel it. Thank you!

I’m not a perfectionist. I just completed reading Steven James, “Troubleshooting Your Novel.” It inspired me to turn my manuscript “upside down and shake it.” Your perspective in this blog post is life affirming. Thx.

ps There are some mistakes in the printing in WD edition that I read. It adds irony in a writing book

I have a novel I’ve been working on for 3 years (off and on, as I need breaks between drafts to gain objectivity) and I’m getting ready for another big revision. Recently someone who’d read it said to me, “But it’s good how it is! It’s better than a lot of stuff out there. It doesn’t have to be perfect.”

It *doesn’t* have to be perfect–but for me, it has to be the best I can get it, and it’s just not there yet. Will I be less prolific than other writers by spending so much time on one book? Sure. But I’m not in this for the money. Are any of us?

It comes down to that Steve Jobs quote: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”

And at the risk of drawing wrath, I have to agree with you about self-published novels. I have yet to read one that’s drawn me in past the first chapter. Not to say they’re all bad, I just haven’t come across a good one. Most of the time I just want to yell, “Go revise this. You can do better.”

Mary Kate, the person who read your novel and said it was good how it was and didn’t have to be perfect is an insufficiently discerning reader. Eventually that person will wonder why you haven’t invited him or her to be a beta reader for your next novel, and your next, and your next.

Yes, this advice resonates with me too. We hear so much about writers producing full-length manuscripts in a matter of weeks, four and five novels in a year. And, who knows, maybe these books are well written. But I will never be able to do that. It takes me a long time to conceive, draft, revise, agonize, and agonize some more over a book.

Sometimes when I start to read a novel, whether traditionally or self-published, I get a strange dead feeling. The prose feels lifeless, the story formulaic, the pacing manic. I always put that book down and look for something else.

I don’t end up finishing most of the novels that I start reading. I just don’t have time for something that isn’t quality and there are so many amazing books out there to be read! So, let’s all raise the standard so all of our work resonates with readers.

I’m reading more and more in blogs and articles of authors who are so proud of the fact they can turn out a novel every 3 months. Many are saying this should now be considered the norm! One author cited that they did a 100,000+ novel, a novella that were released for a certain market season and worked as an editor for a few clients at the same time all in the span of about 3 – 4 months! 😲

I know most authors can’t or simply refuse to set that kind of pace and I think the industry will regret it in the long run if they start to see that as the norm.

Agreed. If that’s the new norm then I want nothing to do with it. Most people are writing too much. I say, write 300 words a day. Do it 300 days a year (which gives you plenty of time off) and you’ll end up with a 90,000 word novel that’s worth reading. Do that for a decade and you’ll have a career—and you’ll have created more art than many of the most prolific authors throughout history.

My one attempt to write something my publishers said “would sell really well if I’d just try writing ‘a certain kind of book'” ended up being the novel I am most disappointed in and would love to have a “do over” to write it as I would write it on my own without this weirdling Kat staring over my shoulder, using my fingers as its fingers, typing out a novel as if I were a puppeteer and puppet both at the same time! Instead of being my “biggest seller,” it has been my least seller (and it’s not my publishers fault – it’s mine for straying from what works for me!) Maybe I don’t talk about the book enough for it to sell better because I’m not as happy with the result. Who knows? I just wish I had that do over!

I have to say I briefly thought, “Oh! To be asked to ghostwrite for some bigger bucks! Oh! I’ll do it! I’ll do it!” because I just paid my mortgage, and my refrigerator needs some food, and winter heating bills aren’t going to be pretty, and my road assessments had to be paid (ouch) and my car needs major repairs (OOOOUCH!), and I’m doing this all on my own, etc etc. But then, I thought, “But, I’m able to do those things, even if it’s hard and even if it’s tight – I’m doing it. On my own. With my editing income and my book income. I’m doing it all from the comfort and sanctuary of my home, on my own schedule. So there you go, Kat.” *skips off all la tee dah*

Thanks, Steven. I’ve been on a very long writing journey, but I promise you, I will not settle. If I cannot make my novel the best that it can be, then it stays with me and the world won’t see it. My name will be on it. It has to be the best. Great post.

Steven, having attended your Novel Writing Intensive Retreat, I can say with confidence that your influence on many authors has been appreciated by tens of thousands of readers. I’m thankful for what I’ve learned from you and Robert, and look forward eagerly to learning more. I would not have been published without you. Thank you also for sharing this. It truly resonates at the perfect time in our changing world of publishing.

As a book buyer for an indie bookstore, I can vouch for the plethora of sub-par self-published books on the market. I almost dread seeing another come through the mail. I’d say I turn down 90% of them. Maybe more.

So, I agree with what you’re saying, about submitting your best work to the world.

However, I tend to go overboard revising my work, trying to make it perfect. I write the life out of it! I read somewhere that you know you’ve revised one too many times when the previous version was better than the last. I think I need to lower my standards to “the best I can do, given the skills I currently have,” and leave it at that.

“As you foray into the world of fiction writing, you’ll be tempted to settle for less than your best.” This line really stuck out for me. And, from the comments, it sounds like you addressed a big concern with the whole of the writer-species nowadays. Our work is almost necessarily slow and fastidious (our good work, at least). But with instant gratification such a big part of daily life and the self-publish button right at our fingertips, some of us may be having trouble remembering that the novel takes as long as it takes, and rushing to mollify anyone else, even our own anxious desire to ‘see how it does’ will result in something disappointing compared to what we know we could have done, had we taken our time. Or waited for the right opportunity. Thank you for this reminder!

Not long ago, I sold a short story to by anthologized by a small press. The publisher later requested so many changes that I hardly recognized my main character. After several false starts and delays, the publisher went out of business, saving me from living with a work that wasn’t really mine. Now I’m going back through my previous versions to restore the story to the one I want to tell. It’s kind of messy, but after reading today’s post and all the comments, I know it’s worth the effort. Thanks!

Steven, I’ve been a fan from the beginning and there is no argument for the quality of your work: you’re fantastically gifted and I know that includes the hard work you described in this post.

However, if you’ve “yet to read a self-published book that was ready to be published”, then you haven’t read very many of them. That’s a rather cheap shot at some gifted craftsmen/women who’ve taken all the steps prescribed in your post.

Thanks so much. This article was perfect timing for me and I believe a word from the Lord. I have been struggling to get my career started – have a couple of things published with smaller publishers, but I’ve been tempted to go a route that would jump start things and completely be out of the will of God. BTW, I love your novels.

I agree with everyone here – and you, too, Mr. James. I’ve starting reading your Story Trumps Structure on the heels of Donald Maass’s Writing 21st Century Fiction. You both have opened my eyes to see I was flinching in my writing. And waaaay too worried about the writing “rules”. Sure, I’ve been working on my fantasy novel for 9 years, but I’m a picture book writer! And I’ve been traditionally published, but that was years ago. When I got an idea for a novel, I had to learn that craft. It’s been an interesting ride. I have an excellent mentor, and my novel is now under consideration by a small traditional house. Very exciting!

But what really leapt out at me was the “writing for the trends” line. I’ve attended lots of writers conferences – all Christian ones – and I keep hearing things like, “You need to tithe your writing time!” or “You need to be writing THIS (always talking about the persecuted church)”. I’m not putting down those who do those things, however, I’m not called to write those things. I’ve learned to not feel guilty about that, which means I can concentrate on what I’m supposed to write. And I feel soooo much better doing that. :)